Furious league bosses last night booted out Dave King’s demands for a QC to lead a probe into Murdoch MacLennan’s links with Celtic – then revealed Rangers have known about them for more than four months.

Record Sporttold yesterday how the SPFL were standing by chairman MacLennan after it emerged he had been head-hunted for a senior boardroom position by a company part-owned by Celtic supremo Dermot Desmond and fellow Parkhead shareholder Denis O’Brien.

King responded to our exclusive by launching a blistering salvo – in which he called for media man MacLennan to be suspended immediately pending an independent investigation into what he described as possible “conflict of interest” and an “alleged non-disclosure”.

But the SPFL hit back by confirming Rangers were fully informed in January of MacLennan’s decision to join Irish media giants INM as a non-executive chairman.

Murdoch MacLennan is chairman of the SPFL (Image: PA Wire)

He was headhunted for a position at Irish media giant INM - part owned by Dermot Desmond (above) (Image: SNS Group)

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The information was passed directly to the Ibrox club’s managing director Stewart Robertson who it’s understood raised no objection to MacLennan’s appointment with the Dublin based company.

But in his statement King claims to have been left in the dark until yesterday’s Daily Record hit the news stands.

He said: “The club notes with concern the latest disclosure through the media regarding a business relationship which the chairman of the SPFL has with leading shareholders of a fellow SPFL club.

“This has given rise to allegations of non-disclosure and it is now imperative that we discover exactly the nature of the information supplied to the SPFL regarding this relationship.

“It is equally important that any conflicts of interest, or even the perception of such, whereby positions within the Scottish football authorities could be undermined, or abused, must be aggressively rooted out of our game.

Dave King called for MacLennan's suspension

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“The SPFL, therefore, must immediately suspend its chairman pending an independent investigation by a senior QC into the allegations and into the extent that other parties within the SPFL may have cooperated in this alleged non-disclosure.”

But later yesterday the SPFL came back with all guns blazing by insisting Robertson – along with the rest of the SPFL board – was initially notified of MacLennan’s intentions two months before he took on his role at INM in March.

A spokesman for the SPFL said: “It’s not surprising Murdoch, having stepped down as deputy chairman of Telegraph Media Group, should be approached by other businesses in that sector.

“The members of the SPFL board were each informed of Murdoch’s appointment on January 19 2018, the same day it was publicly announced in a press release from Independent News & Media PLC. That release was also circulated to the entire SPFL board that day.

“The appointment was widely reported in the national media at the time, including in the Sunday Times, Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Independent.

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“No director raised this issue subsequently and it was not the subject of any board discussions.”

King though seems determined to go to war with the authorities – less than a week after calling for a similar probe and the suspension of SFA board director Gary Hughes.

Record Sport uncovered a 12-year-old interview in which Hughes referred to Rangers fans as “the great unwashed”.

King went on: “The credibility of Scottish football in the minds of supporters and sponsors is at stake and urgent action is required.”

But the SPFL statement added: “A non-executive position on a PLC does not constitute a business relationship between that individual and a minority shareholder in the company and therefore no investigation is warranted.”